International Wolf Center

Drove up to Ely to visit the International Wolf Center. Turns out it was under renovation, but we still got to see their wolves.

From Wolf Center '09

It was pretty sweet to sit and watch them interact with each other. They look a lot like dogs playing. Grizzer, one of the wolves, was huge, I wouldn't want to run into a hungry version of him in the woods.

From Wolf Center '09

From Wolf Center '09

The pics are also on my Picasa web album. Hit me up if you want to see them.

After the wolf center, JC and I walked to the waterfall between Fall and Garden lakes. It was mostly froze over, but it was still pretty cool.

From Wolf Center '09

From Wolf Center '09

Then we went to an archaeological site I know in the same area. It was difficult to see anything with all the snow, so we gave up and made snow angles on the lake. Great day, but I don't think it will compare to our trip to Winnipeg in a couple weekends!

What's new in the land of Joe

Well, it's been a while, but lets see if I remember how to do this.

It's been a pretty busy winter so far, I've got A LOT of work to do, which is GREAT! I've been accessioning (cleaning and documenting) all the artifacts (chipped rock, projectile points or 'arrowheads', and pottery) that we collected last summer. Now, I am writing a report on one of the sites that we worked on over by Aitkin, MN. It's going pretty well, mostly because we already had to turn in a field report (a kind of VERY rough draft with only essential information).

Now we have 4 interns coming into work, two working on projectile points with Steve, and two working on accessioning artifacts from sites that have been sitting in boxes for years. Someone did the field work, but ran out of time or money to accession the artifacts. So I get to work with them when I have time or when they have questions.

I'm looking at Universities again, the University of Manitoba, Illinois State University, and Western Michigan University. I visited ISU a couple weekends ago with the 'rents, and Jenna and I are visiting the U of Manitoba in the middle of March (my Christmas present!)

Christmas in Duluth

Well it isn't the day after Christmas, but JC and I exchanged gifts.  I had this awesome date all planned out and everything!!  Too bad the roads were so bad I barely made it to her place.  Anyway, she got ice skates, a mug, a thermos filled with hot chocolate, hot chocolate and a hat mittens and scarf.  She was kind of pissed because she had guessed the ice skates, but everyone kept telling her that she wasn't getting them.  Also, she was with when I bought all the other presents I gave her :)

I got some awesome presents too.  Like tickets to the Museum of Man in Winnipeg, so we are going to go up there some weekend, which will also let me check out the University of Manitoba!  I also got a awesome t-shirt that I am going to wear all the time.  It has to do with my worst addiction, Mt. Dew.  Yeah, it's the logo, but it says Mount and Do Me.  It's wondertastic!!

Anyway, we now have a TON of snow.  Like literally a ton! 

Only 3 days of work, then home on Christmas Eve!  Woo!! 4 day weekend!!!

Xmas Music

So apparntly this year if you want to hear a Christmas song about a hippo or a donkey you must download it. I did just that, and have been rockin out to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and "Dominick the Donkey" all morning. I am pretty sure that I am the only one at work and I wish I could blare it over the boombox!! Anyway, I better get back to caroling. They don't pay me to blog... or carol for that matter, but they can't stop me from doing it in my head!!!

Party on Saturday

As mentioned in the previous blog, we had a little party on Saturday, strangeness ensued.

Let's start with my awesome moment.  Let's take a shot of tequila... OK... turns out you can't cough and swallow at the same time.  Even when you are done coughing you can't swallow, it all just runs out your nose.  That hurts like you wouldn't believe!!

We also had a discussion on poop.  And colored poop.  And how we should make something to change the color of your poop.  Then it got crazy... rhinestones were mentioned, followed by a slogan for our new company idea "Pimp my poop"

Other statements were made, but they probably shouldn't be written on here.  So, if you want a fun story email and ask for it.  It includes JJA and AS, JC's roommate and her boyfriend...

Snow weekend

So everyone was all up in arms about the snow that was coming to Duluth.  On Friday they predicted anywhere from 1-2 feet of snow.  We actually got like 8-10 inches.  Anyway, it was pretty bad weather all weekend.  JC's roomate's boyfriend was up so we went out to dinner on Saturday.

Pizza Luce was the place, it was sleeting when we got there.  We had artichoke dip and cheezy bread stuff for appitizers, and baked potato and bear pizza.  The bear pizza had SOOO much meat, it was amazing!  The baked potato pizza was pretty good too, not as good for breakfast the next morning however.  When we left the resturaunt it was no longer sleeting, it was raining...

Next it was back to JC's place to get our drink on.  Turns out JC, her roomate's, and their boyfriends and I can make one hell of a party.  Nothing like Tequila coming out your nose to put a damper on your evening.  However, it was still enjoyable.  During the night the snow came, and came, and JC was too lazy to drive me home. So I spent all Sunday there too.

Sunday it really snowed, like CRAZY, well, all the snow we got pretty much came on Sunday and Sunday night.  Which means JC had to shovel her car out, while I slept like a lazy bum.  Then when I got home I saw the bug in the driveway...

Called work to see if the road to the shop was plowed, but nobody answered.  So I guess it wasn't.  I figured I might as well shovel myself out anyway.  It took almost two hours, but I was nice and shoveled out the neighbors too.  Now I get to drink some hot chocolate and read my book for the rest of the night.

MOA and Holidazzle

So it turns out you can walk through the entire mall in less than 4 hours.
Sure, there are a lot of stores, but there isn't really anything TOO exciting about it. So I can shop at 4 different LIDS, or two GAPS, or 3 Verizon stores. Why the repetition?

From Holidazzle Parade and Bowling

But yeah, JC and I cruised around the mall in wonderful circles, level by level. My feet and legs were aleady sore from all the reffing on Saturday (my feet and legs still hurt, if you were wondering), but I made it. I think the only thing I bought was lunch.

From Holidazzle Parade and Bowling

Then we went up the road to see the Holidazzle Parade on Nicolett Mall. Of course we were like an hour early (but you can only spend so much time wandering the mall), so we wanered around Barnes and Nobel for a long time. I bought a novel, and had to restrain myself from buying more. It's by the same author as "American Gods", Neil Gaiman (sp?), and don't worry dad I won't tell you that you should read it.
JC pointed out my "Inner Fish" book, but I wasn't about to spend $25 on it, because I'm cheap... and Xmas is coming...

From Holidazzle Parade and Bowling

The parade was cold, VERY COLD! But we survived. It was fairytale themed again this year. Is it the same parade every year?? Lights, cold, what a romantic time, right? HA, more like "I can't feel my legs, how much farther to the parking ramp?"

From Holidazzle Parade and Bowling

For those who have never been to the Holidazzle Parade, I would suggest you go AT LEAST once. It's a fun experience, a parade in snow...